The arrival of Marion E. Cady as Healdsburg College’s fifth president in 1899 brought a revival and what may be said to have been the second “great” period of the school. Enrollment reached a record 298 students in 1902; faculty numbers reached sixteen “collegiate” faculty and twelve in the school’s industries, plus one in the normal department.
Though he had come from the “east,” Professor Cady got on well with Healdburg’s Board, the faculty, students and the school’s constituents; and he was personally supported by pioneer church leader Ellen G. White. Likeable, eloquent, aggressive, full of ideas, he had life-long enthusiasm for the educational work.
A summer school began during Cady’s administration; the quarter system of education was initiated; courses were organized into departments; industrial training was increased; and an off-campus school - Timberland Academy - began. Except for continuing financial shortfalls, the college flourished. In July of 1903, President Cady received and accepted a call to serve at the General Conference headquarters of the church, thus ending his successful four-year Healdsburg College presidency.